We're back!
This is where we are with TEDxUtrecht
Dear friends, how are you doing?
A more intense question in these challenging/daunting/interesting times, isn’t it?
Where not so long ago, it kinda was a polite and bit obligatory conversation opener, nowadays it has gotten us back to the fundamentals of caring. We really do want to know how our friends, family and fellow humans are getting by. Because since the first waves of the COVID 19-pandemic hit us and the effects of global warming are getting clearer each year, there’s again a war on the borders of Europe and a refugee crisis still underway.
So again, these are – let’s say – at the least turbulent times we are living in, wouldn’t you agree? And at TEDxUtrecht, we believe in times like these we can use a community of like-minded friends, of positive co-conspirators and of people who want to hack ‘the new normal’ for the better. In other words, we could use a healthy dose of ‘ideas worth sharing’. Well that’s exactly why we’re rebuilding our TEDxUtrecht-site, dusted off our big red TEDx-letters ánd found some fresh new ideas for you to come about.
After three TEDxUtrecht-events in 2012, 2014 and 2016, a TEDxYouth-event in 2017 and a supported TEDxNSPOH-event in 2018, our team reconnected on the brink of this new decade and decided that from 2020 on, we would return with our speaker events spiced up with a healthy dose of activism.
‘Ideas worth sharing +’
TEDxUtrecht 2020 and beyond
Of course – we still believe in the power of great minds, original thinkers and impactful go-getters. And we are going to offer them a platform at our future events.
But we have been thinking about how we could engage with our audiences and the ideas of our speakers even more. And this is what we came up with:
We’ve decided we want to increase the impact of the ideas we’re putting on stage.
So around our future events, we’ll talk more about those ideas besides just putting them on our red dot. We will try to get them more ‘press’, more ‘buzz’ but more importantly we will engage in getting them more ‘support’ and them making more impact. We will do this by inviting the right people to our events. People with influence in the field where the idea of a speaker searches to make an impact. We will arrange meetings between like-minded individuals from all over town and beyond to pick up the glove and implement the presented ideas on a local level, in their lives, places of work and their communities. In short, we will support the ideas of our speakers to be adopted in/by our local community – and beyond.
We started with this initiative in October 2020 by joining TED’s Countdown-initiative – TED’s contribution to reaching the sustainable goals needed to keep this planet and it’s population alive and healthy. We followed this event with TEDxUtrecht 2022 where more climate-related solutions were presented in the Stadsschouwburg.
And second – we’ve decided we want to see more of you – our loyal supporters
Our tribe, our guests and the people who made a success of the first TEDxUtrecht-events. Because, to be honest, we’ve seen you at our events, we have your contacts, but we believe together we could be more than this. So while we were discussing how to engage you all more with our speakers and with our team, we also joined the global TED and TEDx-conversation about this subject. Because all over the world, TEDx-ers felt the need to engage more with each other and take the time to join in conversation about the great themes and challenges of our time.
And last, but not least, we decided that we want to support new talent
New gamechangers, new bright minds that will improve live as we know it. So besides supporting local and regional TEDx-initiatives around, we’ll also focus on how we can invite and engage the youth of this city to dream big and think about how they – and their generation – want to change the world for the better and what they themselves could contribute. By supporting schools to arrange their own TEDx-events, host their own TED Circles and supporting bright new talents and ideas onto our stages. Our first effort on this part was supporting the gang of the Thirty030, who decided they want to organise a second TEDxYouth-event in Utrecht. So this happened June 24th 2020 as ‘our’ first virtual event ever. And we’ll move forward with new ideas after this.
So – do you want to stay updated on all our new initiatives? Or maybe even be part of the team and work with us on enlightening our beautiful city with new mental energy, health and inspiration?
Then join us at our socials and subscribe to our newsletter and you are the first to know about everything coming up. And even better, partner up!
About TEDx
X = independently organized event
In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TED Talks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized but subject to certain rules and regulations from TED. TEDxUtrecht is the local TEDx-event hosted since 2012 in the beautiful city of Utrecht.
About TED
TED is a nonprofit organization devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading. Started as a four-day conference in California 30 years ago, TED has grown to support its mission with multiple initiatives. The two annual TED Conferences invite the world’s leading thinkers and doers to speak for 18 minutes or less. Many of these talks are then made available, free, at TED.com. TED speakers have included Yuval Noah, Harari, Bill Gates, Jane Goodall, Brené Brown, Simon Sinek, Sir Ken Robinson, Johan Rockstrom, Jill Bolte Taylor, Dan Pink, Daniel Kahneman and Tim Urban.
The annual TED Conference takes place each spring in Vancouver, British Columbia. TED’s media initiatives include TED.com, where new TED Talks are posted daily; TED Translators, which provides subtitles and interactive transcripts as well as translations from volunteers worldwide; the educational initiative TED-Ed. TED has established The Audacious Project that takes a collaborative approach to funding ideas with the potential to create change at thrilling scale; TEDx, which supports individuals or groups in hosting local, self- organized TED-style events around the world, and the TED Fellows program, helping world-changing innovators from around the globe to amplify the impact of their remarkable projects and activities.
Follow TED on Twitter at http://twitter.com/TEDTalks, or on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/TED.